


everybody knows good things take a little work

by jj_blues



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Coming Out, Gen, Good Older Sibling Jason Todd, Humor, Jason Todd Swears, Jason Todd is So Done, Sibling Bonding, Supportive Jason Todd
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-08
Updated: 2020-11-08
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:40:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27454375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jj_blues/pseuds/jj_blues
Summary: Jason didn't know what in the nine circles of hell was going on in the Replacement's mind when he turned to him and said, "I don't really think I like girls."
Relationships: Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Tim Drake/Kon-El | Conner Kent
Comments: 23
Kudos: 475





	everybody knows good things take a little work

Jason didn't know what in the nine circles of hell was going on in the Replacement's mind when he turned to him, and said, "I don't think I really like girls."

"O...kay. Wow." He cleared his throat. "Congrats."

Had he still been paying attention to the henchmen instead of the Replacement, he would've missed Tim's quiet sigh. Jason almost reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose at the hurt look he _knew_ Tim was giving him beneath the ridiculous cowl he wore. What else did the Replacement expect him to say? Did he expect a more enthusiastic reaction? Because he should've gone for Dick if he wanted one. Jason doesn't do enthusiastic reactions; everyone in the family knew that. But he took note of Tim's tense shoulders, to his tight grip on the handle of his bo-staff, and - something else was definitely bothering the Replacement. "You want me to murder a bunch of homophobes for ya? 'Cause I'll gladly do it, free of charge. We won't even have to tell B."

Tim seemed to get a hold of himself at the joke, because he stopped chewing on his bottom lip to give a weak chuckle. "Nah, I..." He sucked in a sharp breath. "Obviously, I like girls, because there was the thing with Steph, but I'm not sure if I wanna, uh, marry a girl? In the future? But I'm more open to having a boyfriend, if that makes sense."

Jason's first instinct was to snark, _I'm pretty sure it means you're gay, dipshit,_ but he wasn't that much of a dick. A part of his heart - the tiny, tiny part not corrupted by the Pit - had to work twice as hard to hold back the snark; Tim was obviously having some sort of sexuality crisis, and Superman only knows why he thought it was a good idea to get advice from Jason, of all people, in the middle of a fuckin' stake-out. So he tested his next words. He thought about his brief stint in Seville with the Outlaws, where his sixteen year-old mark had come out to him. (Apparently, it was easier to come out to strangers than your entire family. Jason had spent the rest of the night offering advice, and awkward shoulder pats while the poor guy tried to drown himself in Kalimotxo.)

"If this is your way of telling me you wanna bang guys - " Tim made an embarrassed noise that Jason ignored, "then I say you do it. 'Cause it's your life, and I know I don't normally say sappy shit, but if it makes you happy, then do it. Got it?"

Tim swallowed. The tension appeared to have drained from his shoulders. "Yeah." He gave a jerky nod of his head. "Thanks. Also, can you - uh. Not tell anyone about this?"

Jason scoffed. "I'm not a snitch, Replacement. You don't have to worry about anything. Just give me a call if one of 'em hurts you, y'know? Not like you can't handle yourself, but I'm pretty sure Dick would love to kick the ass of the piece of shit who broke his little brother's heart." He rolled his eyes at the last part.

In hindsight, he probably should've just shut his mouth.

_

It had become some sort of a problem, not like Jason was willing to admit it. Long story short, since he was the only one in the family Tim had come out to, the Replacement now seemed to think it was a good idea to dump his, quote relationship problems, unquote, on him.

And Jason wasn't even an expert on relationships. Hell, the only relationship he'd ever had was... none. Nada. Zero. Yeah, it sucks dying at fifteen. But Tim appeared to be ignoring the fact Jason never had a girlfriend (or boyfriend) and goes to him for shitty advice anyway. Tim was lucky Jason secretly read fanfics so he'd have a bunch of shitty advice all dolled up for him.

Which brought them to the current situation.

"I don't even know how she got my number," Tim complained, tone bordering dangerously close to a whine. 

"So?" Jason arched a brow as he set down his own pen. Seriously, he would've laughed his ass off if the Replacement didn't look like a pitiful mess, his gaunt skin only drawing more attention to the dark bags under his eyes. His hair was sticking up from the number of times he'd run his hand through it, and he looked more miserable than Jason had ever seen him. "Just tell her you're not interested."

"I can't." Tim shook his head pitifully. For some reason, the action tugged at Jason's nonexistent heartstrings. Did the Replacement take lessons from Dick? He didn't even know Tim could do the _pitiful mess you couldn't help but feel sorry for_ look. "WE's gonna make a deal with her dad's company next week."

Jason rolled his eyes. Forget pitiful mess, the Replacement was just a drama queen. If it was Jason in his place, he'd have told the girl to fuck off because he wasn't interested. But not exactly in those words. He'd find a way to let her down gently or something. He definitely wouldn't have led her on for a month because he was fuckin' scared to say he wasn't interested. "Tell her you have a girlfriend. She'd back off once she realizes you're taken."

"Everyone knows I don't have a girlfriend."

"That's what you get for posting about your personal life on Twitter," he shot back, picking up his pen again to scribble _dog_ in the Animal column. "Tell her you like guys, or whatever. Better yet, tell her you have a boyfriend."

The pen in Tim's hand froze. "I…can't."

Against his better judgement, Jason could feel his face soften at the flicker of panic in the Replacement's eyes. "Hey. You know nobody would judge you if you decide to come out, you know?"

"Yeah. I know." Tim nodded, but his eyes remained on his notebook, almost like he didn't want to meet Jason's gaze. "I just - I'm not ready. Not yet."

"Okay. Okay, I get it." He might not understand what the Replacement was going through, but he knew it wasn't nice to push someone if they weren't ready to come out of the closet. "So, uh. You done?"

"Yeah." Tim's relieved smile made something suspiciously like fondness spread across Jason's chest. Oh God, is this how Dickiebird felt after a successful bonding experience with the demon brat? His musings were interrupted at the Replacement's expectant look. "Name?"

Jason glanced down at his piece of paper, cheeks warm. "Damian." Tim swore under his breath. Jason watched him cross out Damian's name, before doing the same to his answer. "Place?"

"Detroit," Tim replied.

"Delaware." Jason put a check mark beside his answer. "Animal? Mine's dog."

"Duck." Tim placed what could pass off as a check mark beside his own answer, though it looked more like a V from Jason's view. "Thing?"

"Dick," he replied easily. He snickered at the way Tim's eyebrows shot up. "What? It's a thing, ain't it?"

Tim huffed, and muttered something too low for Jason to catch. "Fine. Mine's dice."

Jason clicked his tongue. "Lame."

"I'm never playing this game with you again."

"Yeah, yeah." Jason waved him off. "What letter are we still... okay, T."

_

It didn't take long for him to get used to the fact he had become Tim's confidant for the LGBTQ aspect part of his life. Namely, his pining for Superboy. No, not the demon brat's friend; the other Superboy, aka Superman's spawn with Lex Luthor. The whole thing sorta felt like an annoying pest at first. He didn't sign up for this shit, but maybe his cold, dead heart couldn't resist Tim's miserable excuse of pining for his best friend because honestly? The kid was a mess when it came to the romance department.

And maybe, just maybe, Jason was also helping him out because he wanted to see his brother happy. (And Jesus Christ on a pogo stick, since when did he start referring to the kid as his brother?) 

The realization he wanted to see Tim happy had hit him smack-dab in the middle of a dinner date in Budapest while Kyle Rayner stared at him in concern from behind his glass of macifröccs. Wait, no. It wasn't a dinner date, no matter what Roy said. It wasn't. Jason didn't even know Kyle was back on Earth. But the point is, Kyle was back, and Jason had made the unfortunate mistake of running into him at St. Stephen's Basilica earlier. Apparently, Kyle considered Jason a friend. Yeah, it was news to him, too, because he didn't realize the brief stint with Donna, and the whole saving the multiverse shit made them friends. But in Kyle's eyes, it did.

So now here they were, catching up in one of the higher-end bars in Buda while Jason pretended not to think about the earful he'd get from Roy tomorrow for fucking up the plan.

"How's Gotham?"

Jason resisted the urge to shoot him a dirty look from over the rim of his beer. Really? Out of all the questions the Lantern had to start with?

Kyle must've seen something on his face, because he straightened up in his seat, almost knocking over his glass of macifröccs. Jason had to bite back a grin at his 'friend's' pink cheeks. Call him a bad guy, but it almost made up for Kyle asking about Gotham. "Sorry, wrong thing to ask. What've you been up to? I mean, are you here on official cape business, or...?" he trailed off, sounding unsure.

"Cape business."

Kyle nodded. "Okay. Cool. So, how's your - what, youngest brother? The one who almost mimed Hal once? He likes to draw, right?"

Right. Jason never actually told him about the rest of the family. The guy must've picked up the information from Hal Jordan. Or Donna, who had probably known about it from Dick. "Yep. Kid's, like, an artist or something."

Kyle's eyes lit up, and he launched into a barrage of questions about Damian's art style, what he liked to draw, etc. Jason answered each question as best as he could. He was sorta regretting even bringing up the subject when Kyle finally ran out of steam.

"Sorry." He reached up to rub the back of his neck. "I got a little carried away there, didn't I?"

Jason tore off a portion of his crepe-like dessert - the server called it palacsinta, or something along those lines - and popped it in his mouth. "Only a little?"

"Hey, I said I was sorry!"

As the hour passed, the conversation flowed easier between them.

"…the little shit didn't do it, so I fucking had to instead. Can you believe it? Only Timmers, I swear to God."

Jason could vaguely feel his phone vibrate against his leg, but he ignored it. He _told_ his idiotic family not to bother him tonight. After what seemed to be the seventh continuous time his phone wouldn't calm the fuck down, he had enough.

"One sec." He excused himself from the table, fishing his phone on the way out. He glanced at the caller ID. Speak of the devil. "Hey, Timbo. What's up?"

"Kon asked me out."

His eyes widened. "You're shitting me. For real? Like, he literally fuckin' asked you out on a date?" Tim's giddy laugh confirmed his answer. He could feel a grin twitch on the corners of his lips as he leaned against the concrete wall. At the same time, a warm feeling began to spread in his chest. Fucking son of a bitch. The news was unexpected, but definitely not unwelcome. About time Tim manned up and stopped his pining. The kid deserved some goddamn happiness for once in his life. "Congratulations. Does anyone else know?"

"You. Just you."

The warmth in his chest intensified, if it was even possible. "You think B doesn't know?"

"I like to think he doesn't."

"Uh-huh. Keep dreaming." On any other day, he would've followed the words with an insult about Bruce and his control freak tendencies, but right now, he was feeling too fuckin' warm and proud to care. (Damn, all his shitty advice and the sleep he'd lost because Tim had suddenly followed him back to his apartment after patrol to bitch about the unfairness of ~~the clone~~ Conner being hot _and_ supposedly straight was actually worth it.) "So. Again, congratulations on your boyfriend."

"It's one date," Tim retorted. "He's not my boyfriend."

Jason couldn't stop his shit-eating grin from reappearing. He could practically see Tim's blush from the other end of the line. Who would've thought happiness would look good on him? "Well, he ain't your boyfriend yet."

"Thanks for the reminder." The clear sarcasm in Tim's voice made Jason laugh out loud. "Anyway, I gotta go. Kon's gonna be back in uh, yeah. Good luck on your own date. Don't forget to take Kyle to the National Gallery."

He stopped laughing. "Should've known you were only gonna call to fuck with me." He ignored the implication of what exactly Tim would be doing with his newfound almost-boyfriend in favor of focusing his attention on the second part of his sentence. "Also, we're _not_ on a date."

Because it really wasn't a date. Nuh-uh. No way.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, Hood."

And before Jason could reply, the line went dead. Brat. With a fond shake of his head, he shoved his phone in his pocket, and hurried back inside.

"Do I even wanna know?" Kyle asked when he reached the table. "'Cause you look, uh..." He motioned with his hand. "Did the B-man call you?"

Jason snickered at the nickname. He took his seat, and made a grab for his bottle of beer. "You've been spending too much time around Hal Jordan." He flashed Kyle a quick smirk. "But nah, it was just one of my brothers. And I'm a hundred percent sure you don't wanna know what we were talking about."

_

The loud stomping made Jason look up from his copy of American Gods. He arched a brow at the sight of Tim's furious expression. "What happened?"

His brother huffed loudly. "Kon, and I had another fight again."

He set down his book on the counter to watch the kid stomp towards the fridge, pull out a pitcher - _Jesus_ \- of what looked like coffee, a tray of ice cubes from the freezer, and a tall glass. "Y'know, couples who argue about shit is normal. I told you that, didn't I? Loads of times."

Tim muttered something too low for him to hear.

"What was that, Timbo?" They've definitely gone a long way from his murdering-spree-with-Tim-as-his-target days. He's kinda proud, to be honest. "You gonna tell me what happened or are you just gonna keep brooding like the B-man?" He didn't miss the slight quirk of his brother's lips as he joined Jason on the island and set down his glass (vase, more like) of coffee on the counter.

"Like _you_ don't brood about your problems, you hypocrite," Tim retorted. Jason shrugged in response. True. No point denying he doesn't brood, but he was trying to be better now. At opening up with his problems, since his therapist insisted it. "He asked me if I wanted to talk about my feelings, and I said no, and he blew up at me! Like I didn't - nevermind." Tim shook his head. "It's dumb." 

Jason knew Timbo and the clone weren't a picture perfect couple. This wasn't the first time his brother wanted his shitty relationship advice when he and the clone had a fight. But it seemed different today. More serious. "It's not dumb, Timbo. What's dumb is you refusing to apologize 'cause you've got too much pride. If you don't wanna lose him, then I suggest you grab your phone and dial his number." He mentally patted himself on the back. Those fanfics definitely came in handy.

When Tim continued to drink his coffee, Jason rolled his eyes. "Look, do you even love him? Like, really love him?" The question earned him a classic Bat-glare from over the rim of the ~~vase~~ glass, which he pretended not to see. "Then get your head outta your ass and call your boyfriend right now. Compromise, Timbo. Get your shit, together, Jesus Christ." He missed the good ol' days Timbo listened to him.

"What are you blathering about, Todd?"

"How Superman's spawn is such an ass," Jason replied without missing a beat, shooting Tim a lazy smirk from over the demon brat's head. Another perk of being Tim's secret confidant? He liked knowing something the rest of the family didn't. Because Tim hadn't told anyone else except for Jason yet, and he couldn't say he didn't mind it. The family would probably make a big deal of Tim coming out _and_ having a boyfriend, and Jason knew the kid wouldn't like it, not one bit. 

"Excuse me?" The demon brat froze in his tracks, face twisted into a scowl. It was actually sorta cute how he seemed to be so offended on his friend's (and wasn't that a miracle? The demon brat had a friend!) behalf.

Jason let his smirk widen. "Not your Superboy. I was talking about the other one."

"What are we talking about?"

He glanced at Tim as Dick strolled inside the kitchen, and made a 'call' gesture with his hand. Tim scowled. "Nothing, Dick."

_

Movie nights were the best. They didn't usually involve alcohol, but because the Batman was off-world and his flock of Robins had the Manor to themselves, lo, and behold, Tim had grabbed a six-pack from the cellar before Dick could stop him. Thus, they had alcohol during this particular movie night.

Also, watching rom-coms with alcohol was highly recommended.

"...exactly why people should do a background check on the people they wanna fuck! And why cheaters never win! And why we shouldn't keep secrets from each other!" 

Dick pointed his beer at the TV screen as Cameron Diaz hobbled away on her broken-heeled stiletto. Jason, who had leaned over a fast-asleep Damian to grab the bowl of Doritos perched on his lap, privately agreed, even if he didn't want to admit it. He'd decided earlier on he was only gonna have one beer. No way was he gonna get shit-faced around his brothers. Who knew what kinda blackmail they'd get. _He_ was the one who usually had blackmail for his brothers, not the other way around.

"Hey Dick, can you turn off the movie?"

He snapped his head up to look at Tim. "No! We were getting to the good part!" His gaze zeroed in on the bottle of vodka in Tim's hand. Holyyyy motherclucking shit, where in the frick frack did Timbo get that?

But Tim held up a hand. "Jay, please." He had no idea how Timmers wasn't drunk off his ass yet. Seriously, he had, like, four beers already. How was he still not passed out? "I'm just gonna... tell Dick something. 'Cause he said..." Tim furrowed his eyebrows. "No secrets. He said there wouldn't be any secrets between us."

"O...kay?" He arched a brow. "Can I get back to the movie now? You can still tell Dickiebird while I'm watching the movie, can't you?" 

"No," Tim said. Seriously, why did he have to have such a drama queen for a brother? Shouldn't Tim have stopped it with the dramatics now that he was in a relationship? Oh, wait. He didn't. He only became more dramatic. Seizing a handful of Doritos to cram inside his mouth, he turned to watch Timmers face their dearest older brother, a serious look on his face. "Just 'cause you said there shouldn't be any secrets, I'm dating Kon."

Jason choked on his Doritos.


End file.
